The San Antonio Spurs (57-20) will hit the road tonight to face the Denver Nuggets (53-24) in Denver (NBA best 35-3 at home) in a Western Conference clash. This will be the final regular season meeting between the two teams with the Spurs holding a 2-1 series lead. However, if the Spurs want to pick up the win, they'll be without Boris Diaw, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson (did not make the trip) and Tony Parker is probable.

In the third meeting between San Antonio and Denver, the Spurs narrowly won at home, 100-99. Tim Duncan’s 23 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks led the Spurs while Denver was paced by JaVale McGee’s 21 points and 11 rebounds.

The Spurs are coming off a 99-97 win over the Hawks in San Antonio. Duncan led the Spurs by scoring 31 points, grabbing 14 points and recording four blocks.

The Nuggets are coming off a 132-114 win over the Rockets in Denver. Corey Brewer scored 22 points to lead Denver.

And as the Spurs look to hold on to their slim lead over the Thunder in the race for the top spot in the West, here are five things to watch for during tonight's contest:

• Spurs' Duncan is averaging 23.0 points and 12.0 rebounds over his last 11 games.

• The Nuggets have won 38 of their last 39 home games when scoring 100-plus points.

The 2012-13 NBA season is winding down to a close, and likely with it, so is DeJuan Blair's tenure with the San Antonio Spurs. Nearly four years into his NBA career, Blair's time in San Antonio can be summed up partly by a few blips of tantalizing production, but mostly by unfulfilled promise that have left both player and franchise equally disappointed. 

A free agent this offseason, Blair will likely end his Spurs career in favor of a team that can offer a more consistent role in line with talents that are far too competent to be relegated to the end of a bench. 

Barring medical issues, it would appear a safe bet that the best of DeJuan Blair's NBA career will not be with the team that drafted him. But does that make his time with the San Antonio Spurs a complete bust?

Drafted with the seventh pick in the second round by the Spurs, Blair was immediately viewed as another steal by the savvy Spurs front office. A projected late lottery pick, Blair's draft value plummeted due to concerns about his knees (he has no ACL's) and lack of height. 

Though those medical issues have yet to surface, the concerns about his physical limitations have proven to be very real. Knowing what we know now, Blair's actual draft value should have fallen somewhere between his projected value (a late lottery pick) and where he was actually drafted, which would still leave him a steal. 

And yet, it's hard to consider him as such given the high expectations imposed upon him after some extraordinary performances early on, most notably a 28-point, 21-rebound performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder his rookie season and where he has ended up this season.

In what more than likely is the final months of DeJuan Blair with the San Antonio Spurs, come some troubling news regarding the big man.

Blair is facing some legal issues surrounding an unpaid bill totaling over $53,000 and if Blair doesn't pay up, he could be facing arrest (via Express News).

Spurs center De Juan Blair is scheduled to be deposed next week after a judge ruled he must pay more than $53,000 to Rivercenter Jewelers for merchandise the store allowed him to take on credit nearly three years ago, according to court documents and the attorney representing the jewelry store.

 

If Blair fails to show on Wednesday or continues to ignore the lawsuit that was first filed in October, the judge could find him in contempt and issue a warrant for his arrest.

San Antonio Spurs' Danny Green is having a great season shooting 44% from beyond the arc this season, but don't mention it to him.

Besides calling the numbers a possible jinx for shooters, Green knows he's been here before. He shot close to that percentage last season with a 3-point field goal percentage of 43%. The one thing that he remembers isn't last year's regular season or the majority of the playoffs but the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder instead. Green's impact fizzled when the pressure mounted and now he's looking for redemption and learning from his mistakes.

“I learned a lot,” Green said. “Every game is a learning experience. I learned in order to be effective, help my team more, is to do more things than shoot the 3-ball because a lot of times it won’t be there. My biggest keys is being more consistent behind the [3-point] line and doing other things consistently for my team." (Jeff Caplan/NBA.com)

The Spurs have needed Green's shooting more than ever, but he's also not a one dimensional player for the San Antonio Spurs.

Most people will remember Trajan Langdon from his college days at Duke. Langdon was one of the greatest Blue Devils of all time, but his game didn’t really translate to the NBA. He played a couple of seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers but ended up leaving to go play basketball in Europe.

Playing in Europe proved to be a great decision for Langdon, who racked up a bunch of accomplishments overseas and had a very successful career. He retired in 2011 and he’s now a D-league scout for the Spurs. His extensive knowledge of the game has paved the way for him to have a great career after his playing days.

"This is my first season as a scout, and for me it's a way to stay connected with the game,” Langdon said. “I want to go the front office path rather than coaching or something else, I feel it can be a great path for me. This year has been a great way for me to check out the differences between a player's approach in the NBA, and the D-League, as I've spent time scouting both leagues. It's interesting to see how players react to each scenario.”

Brad Jones, now an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz, has spent time with the San Antonio Spurs and Austin Toros organizations. For the Spurs' 40th year anniversary, he interviewed with Spurs.com.

He covered many subjects between the two organizations and what their relationship really is.

When asked about the relationship between the two organization, he explained how close the two really are.

“When I interviewed, they (the Spurs) have a mission of what they expect to get out of the Toros. It’s a very unique process. It was a little bit of getting to know me, but more of here is our mission and this is what we expect. It’s about adding value to the Spurs, whatever it may be. It wasn’t all wins and losses. We obviously had a lot of wins that last year and won a championship. We worked on certain things the coaching staff wanted to see in a situation that they didn’t have to time to practice. We had rehab assignments and then player development.

As the NBA season enters its final full week, writers across the country will begin to fill out their award ballots.  This morning, CBS’ Matt Moore was trying to figure out his MVP top five.  Moore has LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but after that it’s chaos.

Trying to decide on the other three in the top five of MVP behind LeBron & KD is just brutal. CP3, Melo, Parker, Duncan, Kobe, all SO worthy

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) April 8, 2013

Here, Jesse Blanchard and I debate the merits of Duncan and Parker as the Spurs' MVP.  Here's me on Duncan:

Two months ago, Duncan wasn’t even in the discussion about being the Spurs MVP much less a top league MVP contender in part because Tony Parker was on an absolute tear.  Now?  It’s so close I don’t think there’s a wrong answer.  March was Duncan’s best statistical month of the season as he averaged close to 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks a game while shooting 54 percent from the field.  A lot of that damage was done when Parker went down with his sprained ankle.  Meanwhile, Parker’s best month was February, when he averaged 26 points, eight assists and four rebounds a game.  Again, a large chunk of that production came when Duncan missed time with a knee injury.  Duncan and Parker have both been so important to the Spurs, stepping up when each had been struggling or injured.

After the San Antonio Spurs’ victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, from a numbers perspective, a change occurred.

Spurs sophomore Kawhi Leonard’s 23 points in the victory over the Hawks put him as the third leading scorer on the Spurs team with 12.1 points per game. For one night, Manu Ginobili (11.9 points) was no longer the third leading scorer in San Antonio.

With Ginobili only playing 59 of 75 games this season thus far due to countless injuries, Leonard has started to initiate himself more in the offense. Two weeks ago, Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl said his staff had taken notice of Leonard, though Karl felt Leonard’s breakout season will be coming next season.

 “We’re big fans,” said Karl of Leonard before the Spurs defeated the Nuggets 100-99 on March 27.

The San Antonio Spurs have been without one-third of their "Big 3" as Manu Ginobili has been dealing with a hamstring injury which has him shelved for four weeks which has him making his return the the court until the playoffs.

During his radio show in France, his teammate, Tony Parker, stated (via French site RMC Sport) that Ginobili's goal is to come back before the playoffs begin.

"If all goes well, Manu Ginobili will be back for the playoffs. His goal is to play the last two games of the regular season to regain his rhythm by then."

The San Antonio Spurs are limping into the playoffs. Boris Diaw suffered back spasms, Kawhi Leonard has dealt with knee issues, Manu Ginobili is out until the playoffs with a hamstring injury and the list goes on-and-on.

Tony Parker is no stranger to a few bumps and bruises late in the season. He has injured his left ankle, finger and neck and is questionable for tomorrow's game versus the Nuggets.

During his radio show, Parker spoke about his injuries (via French Site RMC Sport) and says while he will be 100% heading into the playoffs, he does admit he is finding it hard to fully recover from the ankle injury.

"I have nothing serious, just several small injuries that have accumulated. The most important thing is to rest under the best conditions. That said, I find it hard to recover from my ankle injury because I have a bruise on my bone. Furthermore, I am dealing with my knee, neck and I have a sprained finger. My neck is a little blocked."